The Road to Paradise by Karen Barnett

The Road to Paradise by Karen Barnett ISBN-13: 9780735289543 Trade Paperback: 352 pages Publisher: Waterbrook Press Released: June 6, 2017

Source: Review copy from the publisher through Blogging for Books.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
In 1927, Margie Lane, an avid naturalist, convinces her Senator father to procure her a position at the fledgling Mount Rainier National Park. Ranger Ford Brannon doesn't relish the job of watching over an idealistic and privileged young woman with no practical survival skills. They fight their growing attraction since Ford rejected God after he lost his father in a climbing accident but Margie's main goal is to bring people to Christ through her nature talks.

Then Margie's controlling former boyfriend threatens to develop the Paradise Inn and the park into a tourist playground as a way to manipulate Margie into returning to him. As he pushes through his plans, Margie and Ford try to find a way to preserve the wilderness of the park.


My Review:
The Road to Paradise is a Christian romance set in 1927 in Washington. Margie flees to Mount Rainier National Park as a way to avoid her manipulative and controlling former boyfriend. It's also a dream of hers to work as a ranger, though she works as a naturalist who gives talks and tours to visitors. Her former boyfriend pushes through plans to develop the park into a ski resort, golf course, and such while promising that he'll drop the plans if Margie will agree to marry him.

While Ford and Margie both love the park and are attracted to each other, Margie avoids Ford since he's rejected God. I liked that Christian characters realized that only God (not dating Margie) could heal Ford's grief over losing his father in a climbing accident. Margie initially had this "the mountain/nature is sacred" attitude that surprised me, but this changed into helping people see God's hand in nature through her nature talks.

We get a "tour" of the park through Ford's and Margie's work there and get a sense of what the parks were like in their early years. There was no sex. The minor amount of bad language was expressed in the "he cursed" style. Overall, I'd recommend this interesting and sometimes suspenseful story.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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